The ultimate startup guide

The word “startap” is increasingly heard on our premises. Each of us even at times dreams of a great idea that will echoes the world and result in a powerful company, and considerable wealth. The way to success is not a bit simple, but it is only sure that success will not be achieved by one who does not dare to try. How, then, to a successful one startup?

Anyone who watched the Silicon Valley series, watched in a witty way the struggle to succeed in the merciless world startup. From daily, weekly and monthly nervous breakdowns, over moments when you think you are near success, and reality shows you exactly the opposite, until the moment you realize that nothing really is going to do it took. And only you are responsible for everything. There is no big corporative collective with a shared responsibility, no the boss you would justify just to save the job. All success and failure, all decisions and mistakes are only to you.

Despite all these potential problems, people choose to launch startups by “my own boss” modelbusiness. Even in Serbia. Is it because the myth of the Silicon Valley is too powerful for a generation that does not drops the phone out of his hands and is appealing to anyone who wants to “succeed in life” or get to the star at once its short cut in the form of companies that, as it does from a distance, “thrive overnight”, only the startup became a desire almost every young ambitious man.

How to get an idea?

It all depends on what you want and what your skills are, as well as the ones with which you start the startup. Most people are moving from the idea, it develops independently or with the help of friends and colleagues who are ready to go the same way. Others are resolved to go on a trip to travel and by means of a product or service they will sell, anything more than that they do not have to work from nine to five. Some start with curiosity when starting a startup, but rather there are those who, due to lack of money or great ambitions, develop their idea in the evening, after paid job at the office is over.

The advice you will most likely hear when looking for an idea is to think about what the market needs and disrupt it which is most often mentioned in the startup context. This means that if you can not invent a new, revolutionary one product, your idea should find space in the already existing market and shake the status quo.

And indeed, look at the great names that started out as startups – they all found something that was more meaningful for their users or something that nobody noticed before. Uber turned upside-downed, often overpriced, taxi traffic, by enabling people to transport from their home, wherever they live, and paying this service online. On the other hand, hundreds of people have been given the opportunity to earn using their own car at the time when the cancellations in the United States became an increasingly frequent phenomenon. Apple has virtually brought personal computers and smartphones into the lives of each of us, long before the startups were a modern expression, when we were not even aware how much their use would mean us what the industry will turn into.

The other tip you will most often hear is to first explore the market. Are there any people who would buy your product? Yes is competition too strong or not at all? Will the price be adequate or no one will be able to afford itproduct? Will it be easy to use or your ingenious startup of the idea will fail because you did not know it simplify? Is it just the product that will be sold or is it necessary to modify it and adapt it to the market? Questions are a million, some of them are not at all easy and require consultation with experienced business people and research markets. Also, these questions will be required by investors at each pitch, and the answers will be crucial Influence their decision to invest in your startup.

Startup ideas can be the most diverse, although they are currently the most popular ones in the fields of health, finance, management and organization of companies. Some, like those more complicated gamers, require a lot of knowledge and skills money, so if you are not able to finance it yourself or persuade investors to fund you, it’s hard you will move from the dead end.

Do you need a team?

Depending on your product and your skill, you can start your own startup adventure. However, statistics show that only 20 percent of projects with one founder succeeded, while as much as 45.7 percent of the startup with two founders survived market. This does not mean that those with three or more founders have necessarily achieved success.

Perhaps in the initial stages you will be able to manage yourself, but (k) if the job grows, the need fornew employees, and thus for a better organization and space. Those who are not vigorously developing the product will have to to hire or hire new developers. Founders without previous experience in running a business will have to find a consultant or hire a CEO. Before marketing the product, there will be a need for marketing and selling. Once you get users, you will need customer support. And so on, until your startup is gone turned into a “nine to five” company, from which you originally fled.

Where are you stationing?

You can work from home and then work with colleagues, you can rent an office or some free space, like it was the case with Branko Milutinovic, one of the founders of Nordeus. There are also many hubs available to you intended exclusively for freelancers and startup teams that want space for work and networking. They are all over, from probably the most famous StartIT Center, available in Belgrade, Vrsac, Valjevo, Inđija, Majdanpek, Zrenjanin and Novi Sad, through the ICT Hub, which is now in new premises in Kraljevo Milan under the name Playground, then Impact Huba in Makedonska, all the way to Polygon Huba (Kozara 1, across from Marakana) and In Center in Tsar Lazar in Belgrade. Infostud Hub was recently opened in Subotica.

In each of these hubs, at a price of (approximately) 50 to 100 euros a month, you get a place with the possibility of using computers, kitchens, lounges and restrooms. Most importantly, you get the opportunity to expand your acquaintances and learn something new in numerous lectures that almost every hub organizes on a weekly and monthly level.

How to find investors?

Find investors by signing up for Pitches or contacting them. You will have to explain each of them the idea, as well as the expected profit for which they would risk investing in your project. In the world, as many as 80 percent of startups are financed by the founders and team members themselves, while only 1 percent is funded by Venture Capital, i.e. investors investing in startape. The incredible 75 percent of startups that receive Venture Capital Investments are unable to recover invested money.

Worldwide investors who have already invested in local startups are 500 Startups, South Central Ventures, North Base Media, Foundcenter Investment, StartLabs, NEVEQ, while among the local most well-known ICT Hub Ventures and the State Fund for innovative activities, active since 2011..

There is also the possibility of going to accelerators abroad, where awarded teams get money and the opportunity to accelerate development of its startup, and among the most famous is the Bulgarian Eleven. Among the companies that are lately most interested in cooperation and assistance to start-ups are most often mentioned by MasterCard and Societe General Bank.

You should not forget to create a profile of your startup on AngelListpoput or Crunchbase, which were founded to help startups find investors. You can always place your product on Kickstarter, Indiegogo and similar sites that aim to raise funds based on the good will of your potential customers.

Investments received by local startups like Frame Ia (formerly Mainframe 2), whose idea is to develop computers in cloudu, and TruckTrack intended for truck transport, do not guarantee success. I can make it easier or quicker, but a sudden big cash flow does not mean that you will be able to gain more users or that you will be present on the market for two, three or five years.

Will your project succeed?

Statistics show that even 90% of the startup fails. The biggest reason is a product that is simply not necessary for the market.

Even 20 percent of founders who experience a collapse with the first start up with another or third or tenth. The point is simple – with each new start you will have more experience in product development and job management. You will know where you have sinned and what you should not do in the future, where you needed help, and what you could and alone and.

Successful startups

Successful startups are considered by those who exist, earn and develop their product for many years. As regards Serbia, among these is Nordeus, a gaming company, and their most famous product, the Top Eleven Football Manager. Then there is CarGo, the Serbian response to Uber, which despite all the obstacles typical of our country successfully develops. Infostud, site for education and job search and employers, Nekretnine.rs, portal for search real estate, Used car dealers, search engines … Do not forget that Limundo and I buy a sale, the Serbian version of eBay, among the most popular domestic startups we use everyday.

The Content Insights company, which deals with creating metrics to better evaluate the performance of the journalist and the content itself, more than a year ago, received more than one million euros for the extension of the team and the customer support team. Biggest The investment so far, $ 45 million, was received by the Serbian-American Seven Bridges for their idea of ​​personalized medicine and the discovery of therapy for the treatment of severe diseases by analyzing millions of genes.

Unsuccessful startups

For most unsuccessful startups we will never and will not hear, and those that we know that once existed to be characterized as successful and unsuccessful. While in Serbia there are relatively few or minimal examples of valuable significance, u Inner-world are the most popular of the former startup giants like MySpace and Vine social networks, platforms to download music from Napster and millions of others every single one to publish a death to TechCrunch.

Although the startup is not a new concept and although its meaning extends to a variety of activities – from food to VR glasses, it can be freely stated that our startup of communities and culture is only wider and gaining in force. More the company sees the opportunity to invest in new ideas, more and more hubs are opening up and more and more people decide on this a step in the hope that at least it will change the world with its idea. The start of mania does not quench – it’s so intense that it is American television ABC re-launched a show of Shark Tank a few years ago to start the commission successful businessmen competing to get finance for your idea. Lactation in the company we watched in Trumpy’s “Shepherd” is a long time ago, now the ratings are achieved by the owners of small businesses.